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Vladivostok
Vladivostok is a large city located in Siberia. It was the largest industrial center of the Soviet Union back in pre-war times and was later turned into the direct continuation of the Soviet Union following The Great War. Formed after the Soviet Premier and several high-ranking members of the Communist party fled to the city of the same name in an attempt to escape the death and destruction that had engulfed the rest of the world, Vladivostok remains one of the few enclaves of pre-war life in the world as well as the continuation of the former USSR and self-proclaimed government of the country. History Vladivostok was initially formed by the Soviet Premier in 2080, following his emergence from the Soviet fallout shelter. 2077 - 2105: Resurgence The Soviets initially attempted only to reestablish themselves, reforging the Soviet Union through the relatively untouched city of Vladivostok. Though the vast majority of Soviet citizens had been killed during or immediately after the Great War, the Soviets retained their national identity and culture, with a new elected body being formed to govern the rump state. The city was the home of both a major port and a major military installation, and just as the city itself had largely survived, most of the military hardware in and around the city had also survived. By 2088, the Soviet Union had a stable government and sustainable means of survival; the uninhabited lands around Vladivostok were artificially made arable, and thus portions of the city were assigned to farming as their sole job. From 2088 to 2105, much of the city's resources were directed towards recovering the Western portions of the nation: structured into three stages, the Soviets would first scout the region with their remaining MiG-3000 multirole aircraft, send light units to reestablish contact with any pockets of survivors, and then exert direct control over the peoples they contacted. Kazakhstan, after several smaller villages that had been completely missed by nuclear weapons were recovered, was the first major pocket of civilization to be found. The Soviets first took note of the presence of about seventy different survivor towns in the early 2090s, each spaced erratically and of a number of sizes. It was estimated by the reconnaissance pilots that the camps could hold between 100 and 5000 people, depending on size, radiation levels, and location. The first scout units deployed on the ground in the Kazakhstan region, between 2097 and 2099 were fairly well received, with patriotic sentiment still the resounding mood amongst the Soviet survivors. The first inkling of resistance came from the Kazakhs in 2101, when the Soviets began to directly assert their power over the Kazakhs. Some tribes reacted more or less severely to the Vladivostok presence there. The smaller tribes, counter-intuitively, were usually the most violent: often times, the governors sent from Vladivostok were ambushed upon taking office. However, ultimately, the Soviets would triumph, and a period of mutual bitterness between Vladivostok and Kazakhstan would become the prevailing sentiment. Meanwhile, reconnaissance planes began their survey of the portion of the Soviet Union beyond the Urals. As had been predicted, every major city of the pre-war Union had been destroyed during the war -- their surviving populations, displaced, had been forced into a wasteland and had formed smaller villages, much as had happened in Kazakhstan. However, being such a prime target, the Western end of the Union had also suffered more than Kazakhstan, and virtually everything of importance to subsistence had been destroyed or contaminated to an unusable level -- arable land was nowhere to be found, all major water sources had been heavily irradiated, and so on. Regardless, the Soviets began to move into these regions by 2100, and by 2105 had basically restored the pre-war Soviet Union to its former extent. However, this was to last for only four years: upon the death of the Soviet Premier, the ruling governors could not decide upon a new Premier to take his place, which would eventually boil over into an all-out civil war in Vladivostok itself, with many of the constituent governments in Kazakhstan and Europe declaring independence in the midst of the Civil War. 2109 - 2137: The Long War The Soviet Premier died in December of 2109. Initially thereafter, the government ran fairly smoothly, with deliberations as to the future of the new Soviet government dragging on in a newly-formed Duma of representatives of the various Kazakh and European cities and tribes. This was not destined to last, however, as the deliberations became more an more embittered, and by 2111, the duma was polarized into four sections: the Hardliners, who were comprised of largely Vladivostok-born Soviets, were of the belief that the ruling party alone should determine who becomes Premier, and that the premier ought to always be from Vladivostok, and descended from the pre-war Communist rulers. The Blue Communists were a more democracy-oriented organization within the Communist party. While they were of the belief that all constituent governments should remain under Vladivostok control, they advocated for completely equal representation in the Duma and a strict constitution to become the guiding force of the new Soviet Union. On the opposite end of the spectrum were the Kazakh People's Party, which advocated for complete self-control over Kazakh and European affairs. Although a relative minority in the Duma, the KPP was a very popular movement amongst the Kazakhs themselves, especially by 2111. The final pole of the Duma was the Kazakh Republican Party. Like the KPP, the KRP advocated for self-control over Kazakhstan itself, but also desired maintenance of relationship with the Soviets and a higher position in the union, being the population base of the Post-War Union. In 2114, the Duma had further polarized, as the Blue Communists and KRP joined forces to gain a majority against the KPP and Hardliners. By Summer of 2114, the KPP had fully withdrawn itself from the Duma, and the Hardliners were already beginning to plan in the event of a civil war. The Hardliners -- popular in Vladivostok -- did not appear during the Winter Duma gathering, and the newly-formed Republican faction of the KRP and Blue Communists had believed themselves victorious. However, on December 21, 2114, Hardliners and their supporters stormed the Duma, and summarily executed nearly all of the Republicans. The backlash was immediate. Fighting erupted in the streets of Vladivostok itself, and Europeans, who were backers of the Republicans, revolted against the Hardliner-controlled military forces stationed in their cities. The KPP, delighted at the prospect of the Vladivostok government being so violently divided, declared independence as the Principality of Sibir and Kazakh, with the top ranking members of the KPP ruling the nation as co-princes. This was the start of what would be known as The Long War. Initial fighting lasted just weeks, with Hardliner loyalists being ousted from every major city in Kazakhstan and Europe. The Europeans quickly organized a new government in the city of Vladimir, a post-war city, declaring themselves the Republic of the Soviets. Their forces were hastily organized but effective; by February of 2115, the Republicans had managed to push the Hardliner forces back through the Ural mountains. However, fighting there quickly devolved into trench warfare, with neither side able to gain a decisive advantage. In Kazakhstan, the Principality struggled against Hardliner forces throughout all of its cities. Although initial fighting was indecisive, in late February of 2115, the Kazakhs had managed to gain a firm grasp over the southerly settlements. The Vladivostok government was also suffering internally following the overthrow of the Duma. Their rule was oppressive to the very people they had been supported by, and the commoners quickly came to resent the taking of their food and other supplies by the government. There were protests, which elevated into riots, until the Hardliners, lead at that point by Grigori Krylov, instituted martial law and ordered all protesters shot on sight. However, Krylov's rule was short-lived, as Hardliners made power-plays within their own organization. Within a few weeks of taking power, in March 2115, Krylov had been assassinated. His death marked a turning point in the early stages of the war. Without warning, the Hardliners had dissolved from a single, centralized organization into various warring factions themselves, and finally the Vladivostok-based government essentially ceased to exist. The Republicans and Kazakhs, however, could not quite win a decisive victory, even with their enemies disorganized. The war's aspect did not change for seven years. In 2122, the Vladivostok government -- after hundreds of revolutions and counter-revolutions, had re-stabilized under the hand of Leonid Gregorovich. With popular backing, he eradicated the remaining Hardliners and seized complete control, proclaiming himself the Czar of Russia. Gregorovich's reign was structured into very noticeable segments beginning in August 2123, after he had finished restoring order. The first segment consisted of the deployment of weapons and supplies that had been kept in reserve since before the Great War -- T-87 tanks, VB-02 Vertibirds from the Americans, and a variety of weapons and armor. Though it took quite a long time, without the ability to make use of the distended Trans-Siberian Railway, by 2126 the Kazakh front had been bolstered with these supplies. The war there was turned around in what seemed like an instant; the Vladivostok soldiers began a resurgent campaign, taking back in mere months what took the Kazakhs years to take hold of. KPP forces began an organized retreat by June 2127, pursued at distance by the Russian forces. Ultimately, however, the war for Kazakhstan would drag on as stockpiles of American anti-tank weaponry began to surface in late 2127, dissuading the Russians from completely annihilating the Kazakhs in their final major strongholds. Meanwhile, Gregorovich began the reconstruction of the trans-Siberian railway. With the aid of a Soviet railcar, the Russian forces managed to complete all three lengths of the Railway to the Ural Front by 2131. Unlike the Kazakh front, the Ural Front proved hard to break. The Republicans had been bolstered heavily by defecting Russian soldiers, and through hidden and well-protected stockpiles created by the Soviets prior to the Great War, were of almost the same technological level as the Russian forces that were arriving in 2131. Three more years passed, and not a single major gain was made in the Ural area by either side. Support for both Gregorovich, who had continued with his segmented plans for Vladivostok, and for the war at large quickly waned in Vladivostok as news of casualties continued to pour in. In 2135, the November Revolution of Vladivostok began. The movement initially began as a protest of the war, but gained such momentum that it transformed into a revolutionary movement in January 2136. The Czar, his forces well overextended and making no gains, found himself threatened everywhere. The Ural front was not going anywhere, and he dared not attack the Kazakhs; there was dissent at every level, with soldiers defecting to join the rebelling populace and government officials deliberately undermining Gregorovich's orders. Twenty-three attempts on his life were made before he finally forced a confrontation; in March he ordered any and all dissenters put to death -- a command that served only to further deepen his grave -- and by July, the first riots had begun on the outlying portions of the city. In October, the dissenting forces organized themselves, holding underground meetings and plotting the overthrow of Gregorovich's reign. The assembled revolutionaries referred to themselves as the Party for a Greater Russia, and drafted a number of plans, including contingencies in the event of failure. The goal was to synchronize the riots that had already been occuring throughout Vladivostok into a single, overwhelming uprising; thus, the Party asked all dissenters to cease activities until the moment was right. Secondly, Gregorovich was not to be executed, but instead tried as a traitor and imprisoned. Thirdly, a constitution, based upon that of the former United States, was to be made the law of the land in Vladivostok. Fourthly, the new government would attempt to negotiate with the enemy and attempt to obtain a favorable end to the war. On November 4th, the Party made their move; the entire City and most of the small communities throughout Vladivostok's holdings revolted. The combined forces were overwhelming, outnumbering Gregorovich's forces twenty to one; many soldiers, both in Vladivostok and abroad, abandoned their posts and orders to take sides with the rebels. the Czar retreated to his Imperial Palace, as he referred to the Capitol building, and loyalist forces gradually fell back to that same palace. By the sixth day, November 10th, fighting had drawn almost to a close -- pockets of resistance throughout the city remained, but for the most part the loyalists had either died, defected, or surrendered. In any case, Gregorovich had managed to escape -- or rather, slipped into a bunker inaccessible to the rest of the world. This was the same bunker where the original Soviet leadership had lived during the immediate aftermath of the Great War, and was impossible to open from the outside or destroy without a direct nuclear impact or similar force. Therefore, Gregorovich could not be captured and tried, and the City was left with a feeling of unease lasting into January, as constant attempts to break the bunker failed. As the government was being restructured by the Party, the Kazakhs noticed the consistent defecting of the Russian soldiers, and on January 2136, they made their move. The Kazakhs resurged, driving the demoralized and unhappy soldiers from Kazakhstan -- by April of 2136, the last Russians in Kazakhstan had either been killed, captured, or routed, many of them neglecting to scuttle their equipment, therefore leaving the Kazakhs better suited to defend themselves should the Russians make another attempt at attacking the KPP. An unofficial truce became apparent as the Kazakhs made no move into Vladivostok territory proper -- the overwhelming majority of Siberia -- and the Russians did not, and could not, launch a counter attack. However, in the Urals, the fighting continued. Because of the remoteness of the location relative to Vladivostok, there were far fewer defections. The Republican forces fought with unparalleled zeal, refusing to give an inch of land without spilling gallons of Vladivostok blood. This situation continued well into 2137, until finally Vladivostok and the Vladimir-based Republic agreed to a cease-fire, and met at the table (along with Kazakh representatives) to discuss a permanent peace. 2137 - 2138: Peace settlements Kazakhstan demands complete independence The Kazakhs, emboldened by their successes and newly-acquired equipment, demanded total secession from the Vladivostok government. The KPP held that one demand higher than any other, and refused to leave negotiations without having achieved it; the KPP representatives even went so far as to sleep in the negotiating room in the building -- which was located on a barge in the Caspian sea to ensure neutrality. Republican demands The Republic of the Soviets were more split about their own demands. While a new sense of separation had developed as a result of the war -- many of both sides' population had grown up during the war, and was largely unfamiliar with the pre-Great War world (indeed, the extent of knowledge of most of the population was that the past was better than the present, whereas most of the older generation was still knowledgeable about, even if they only understood it by proxy) or the pre-Long War reconstructed Soviet Union. A slim majority of people, in a plebiscite, supported total or near-complete separation from the eastern Soviet Union, with the remainder of the populations split into varying degrees of support for a reunion with the Vladivostok-based government; about 1/3rd of the supporters of a reunion preferred a total reunion, with all of the trappings developed over the Long War years abandoned, about 1/3rd were in favor of some local autonomy but with authority returned to Vladivostok, and the remaining 1/3rd was in favor of a reunion, but with the government shifted to be more Euro-centric and less Vladivostok-centric. As a result of this plebiscite, total separation was demanded of Vladivostok. The exact borders of the separatist nation were to be a point of contention between the representatives, but ultimately landed between where Vladivostok desired the border and the Republic desired it. Peace treaty The peace treaty, although rather unpopular in Vladivostok proper, settled the war once and for all. The dual-principality of Sibir and Kazakhstan was to become a sovereign state, with its northernmost border defined by the second track of the Trans-Siberian Railway; furthermore, the state was to extend as far west as the Caspian Sea, and as far East as the Ertis river. Any citizens within that area were to be de facto Kazakh citizens. The Republic of the Soviets, similarly, was liberated. The border, as desired by Vladivostok, was to simply be the Ural mountains and the Caspian sea; however, the Republicans demanded the region as far east as Irkutsk to be recognized as Republican territory; ultimately, the issue was resolved and the border set at the Obi river. Category:Locations